Shadows in the rain
by Nananabooboo
Summary: (On hiatus) Harry somehow is stuck where everything is different. What'll he do! (AU, pretty strange, but not what I think you'll expect)
1. How it all starts

This fic is very AU, and I couldn't make up my mind on what year to put it in, so I just put it somewhere, it doesn't really matter.  
  
"Hi Harry! Been here long?"  
  
Hermione and Ron had just entered the compartment, Hermione holding her wand out to levitate both their trunks inside.  
  
"Have a nice summer? The Dursleys treating you all right?"  
  
Harry smiled at their enthusiasms.  
  
"Relax with the questions. I have been here for about half an hour, the Dursleys had to get somewhere before that so they just dumped me off. Couldn't wait to get rid of my lazy ass they said. How was your summer?"  
  
Ron immediately launched into a detailed story of his holiday in Norway. Charlie had invited him to come with him, living in the wild for six weeks, researching dragons and other wild magical animals there. All the while Hermione was wrestling with Crookshanks, but Harry wasn't quite sure whether the cat was supposed to be in is basket or out of it.  
  
"And the chicks in Norway are just awesome. There was this one girl; her name was something like Tove or something weird like that. But anyway" Ron said as he ravenously ate the sweets and junk food he had just bought.  
  
"We got that Ron. You've already said that four times. I'm not interested in any of your escapades over the summer, and I hardly think Harry is either." Hermione said dryly as she played with Ron's chocolate frogs.  
  
"What? You mean Harry's gay?"  
  
"Oh, Ron, you're so daft sometimes. Of course Harry isn't gay. Not that that would be a problem," she added hurriedly, "I just meant that we don't want to hear about some silly Norwegian girl you snogged. There are more important things to talk about then that."  
  
"Oh yeah, like what? Hogwarts, a History, or maybe spew?" Ron asked, raising his voice slightly.  
  
Hermione's lips pursed very much like McGonagall did. "Yes, for example. But that was not what I was thinking of. I cannot imagine that you spent much time studying this summer, and we can't afford to lose such valuable time."  
  
Ron's ears were turning red. "Well, I can bet Harry didn't spend his whole summer studying, there must be some girls, or boys," he added with a glance at Harry, "Harry was with. I mean, summer is the time for love, not studying. Come on Harry, you agree with me on that?" Ron turned pleadingly to Harry, as this was a no-win situation.  
  
"Erm, actually I didn't get out to spend much time with other kids my age. The Dursleys didn't want me on 'public display' as you could say." Harry grinned wryly "But since we're on that subject, Dudley got himself a girlfriend this summer. A really nice girl actually, she and Dudley made a lovely couple. Let's just hope they won't decide to get married, they wouldn't fit together in the same car." Ron snorted and Hermione grinned lightly. "But what is this annoying sound? It's been getting louder for that last few minutes."  
  
"What sound Harry? I can't hear anything." Hermione asked puzzled  
  
"Me neither." Said Ron, unwrapping a chocolate frog.  
  
They all frowned and sat silent for a few minutes, Ron and Hermione both straining their ears trying to hear something, and Harry wondering what that sound that was getting louder by every passing minute was.  
  
"I'm sorry Harry I can't hear anything. What kind of sound is it?" Hermione asked sounding worried.  
  
"It's really strange, a high, kind of screeching, It's getting higher and higher and starting to get really on my nerves. You sure you can't hear anything at all?" Harry said.  
  
"You don't think this has something to do with you-know-who do you?" Ron asked paling considerably.  
  
"I hope not. And isn't the train warded against something like that?"  
  
Hermione stood up. "I'm going to ask the guard, don't go anywhere." She added trying to lighten their moods and disappeared out of their compartment.  
  
"You ok Harry?" Ron asked after a couple minutes silence.  
  
"I don't know, but this is really uncomfortable. I'm amazed you can't hear it, I had to really concentrate just to hear what you were saying, and the strange thing is, the sound isn't like it's in my head but all around me."  
  
"Yeah, I dunno, seems pretty queer to me."  
  
They both lapsed back into silence, Harry slightly frowning because he was starting to develop a headache.  
  
The minutes dragged by, and Ron sighed in relief when Hermione entered with a nervous Prof. Sinistra. Harry saw Hermione open her mouth but he heard nothing of what she said. The sound reached an all time high and he blacked out.  
  
Harry blinked. His head was swimming and it took a while for him to realize he was lying on the floor. He raised him self slowly up and sat with his head in his hands. He was alone in the compartment so he figured Hermione and Ron must have gone to find someone to wake him up. But that couldn't be, they had already found a teacher when he blacked out.  
  
He stood up and found that his head was feeling much better now, though his insides felt like they were all upside-down. He peeked out of the compartment and saw no one. Where were Hermione and Ron?  
  
Just then a voice announced the arrival at Hogwarts and Harry realized he wasn't dressed yet. He shut the compartment and went to put his uniform on, but found that his trunk wasn't there. Neither were Hermione's nor Ron's. That was strange.  
  
He decided to just get into a carriage and explain the situation to McGonagall. He got alone into one of the last not-so horseless carriages and wondered where everyone had gotten to.  
  
Harry entered the Entrance hall and nearly walked into Professor McGonagall. "Professor, I'm glad I found you, but, why aren't you meeting the first years?" Harry wondered. The first years should be arriving now, what was she doing here?  
  
McGonagall eyed him strangely. "I don't know what you are talking about, I think you should come with me and talk to the headmaster."  
  
She motioned for him to follow her as she walked briskly off; Harry barely managed to keep up with her.  
  
They finally stopped outside of an enormous painting with a very old and a very fat cat, who opened a bleary eye and stared at them. Harry wondered why he had never seen the painting before, it wasn't exactly hard to miss, it was so big, and strange, like something from Alice in wonderland.  
  
"Adolfus Merlin, I'm here with this young man to meet the headmaster, please let us through." The cat yawned and poked his paw to a small door in the corner of the painting.  
  
The door started to grow in the painting until it reached full size. The cat poked it again and the door swung open. Harry jumped back to make room for it, but he noticed it went straight through McGonagall. He assumed it was some kind of a magical door, not really being there at all.  
  
Harry followed McGonagall through the door and in a long hallway with an elegant door at the end. McGonagall knocked on the door and turned to Harry.  
  
"Behave yourself in front of the headmaster and don't speak unless you're spoken to. The headmaster is an important man and does not tolerate impertinent teenagers." She told him stiffly.  
  
Harry wondered why she was telling him this, he knew the headmaster was important, but why shouldn't he speak out of turn? And what was it with this office?  
  
Maybe it was some kind of a secret base, or just his private chambers. But what would the headmaster be doing here now and not at the feast?  
  
Harry's musing was broken when he noticed McGonagall was on her way inside the door, but what really shocked him were her words.  
  
"I'm sorry to interrupt you Lord Riddle, but we seem to have a stray wizard here, perhaps a muggle-born. I thought I should come to you with him."  
  
Harry froze. Lord Riddle? The headmaster? What was going on? And what did she mean by a stray wizard? She knew who he was, and that wasn't muggle- born. Not that there was anything wrong with that he added hastily to his thoughts. This was all too confusing and he didn't know what to do, so he did the anything logical in this situation. He turned on his heel and ran. 


	2. Where everything is supposed to be answe...

Harry collapsed, wheezing and out of breathe. He looked around and realized that he was in the dungeons. He sat down with his back against a wall, thinking what the hell was going on?  
  
Nothing of it made sense.  
  
Perhaps he was just dreaming, having blacked out in the train.  
  
He pinched himself in the arm.  
  
No, this was no dream.  
  
Maybe he should just go into the great hall and see if everything was right there?  
  
Maybe Hermione and Ron were there, waiting for him.  
  
Maybe all of this was just a misunderstanding.  
  
Maybe 'Lord Riddle' was some kind of a joke between McGonagall and Dumbledore  
  
But why hadn't they waited for him? Why had they left him in the train?  
  
No, he wasn't going to think about it.  
  
He buried his hands in his arms and sat like that until he heard footsteps coming his way.  
  
He looked up and saw Snape approaching, walking in the most peculiar way. Bending over and walking slowly and cautiously. He was strangely vague, but Harry assumed it was the darkness that made him harder to see.  
  
Harry saw him glance once in his direction as he came closer.  
  
Snape was seemingly ignoring him for he walked straight past him.  
  
Harry wondered if maybe he was on some secret mission, or if he had something to do with the odd behaviour of McGonagall.  
  
Before Harry could stop himself he was on his feet and running to catch up with Snape.  
  
He saw Snape stop immediately and move towards the wall, his gazed fixed on Harry.  
  
"Professor? Is there something wrong?" Harry asked hesitantly  
  
Snapes mouth opened slightly, but he made no other move or sound. Harry took a step closer.  
  
"Err, professor? I, erm, I" Harry stopped. He had no idea what he was going to say. He stared at his shoes.  
  
"Who are you boy?" Snape stuttered in a low voice.  
  
Harry looked up surprised  
  
"What do you mean sir? Have everyone here gone crazy? First McGonagall tells me she is taking me to the headmaster and he turns out to be Tom Riddle and now you act all strange. You hate me, how can you have forgotten who I am? I thought you were looking forward all summer to torturing me!" Harry cried in exasperation.  
  
"What do you mean boy? I've never seen you before, and who did you expect to be the headmaster?" Snapes sneer was lost in his confused face.  
  
Harry stared at Snape.  
  
"Dumbledore of course. He has been the headmaster for ages Professor Snape."  
  
The professor gasped and grabbed Harry by the collar.  
  
"What are you talking about? What do you know about Dumbledore? And how do you know my name?" he hissed.  
  
Harry responded by kicking Snape in the knee, making Snape let go of him and for the second time that day, he bolted.  
  
Harry ran in to the Entrance Hall and looked around. No one was there so he made for the door. He didn't know what was going on, but he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to find out.  
  
Harry's reflexes had jumped in there. His mind told him to trust few, and lunatics like Snape back there were not on his to-trust list. In fact, he wasn't sure who were on that list now, if there were any at all. Hermione and Ron were supposed to be his best friends, and best friends did not leave each other behind to deal with this lunacy.  
  
He shook his head and went outside. He was only a few metres from the school when a voice rang his way.  
  
"Boy! Where do you think you are going?"  
  
Professor McGonagall was heading his way with a man tagging behind her. Avery? Harry was sure he remembered him correctly; after all, it was hard to forget a man who held him imprisoned for two weeks. He didn't have time for more nostalgia for McGonagall and Avery had reached him, the latter with his wand drawn and pointing at Harry.  
  
"Don't move." McGonagall said sharply, "I want to know who you are, and how you got here, what you are doing here. You will answer my questions."  
  
Harry nodded. That could hardly be dangerous, just telling her that.  
  
"Er, my name is Harry, I got here with the train, I'm here to attend my seventh year at the school." He stopped hesitantly and watched Avery lean over and whisper something to McGonagall.  
  
As Avery moved he noticed Snape standing behind, watching them with an unreadable expression. When Snape noticed him noticing him he quickly motioned for him to stay silent and pointed to the pair before him, as if to tell Harry that he shouldn't notify them of his presence. Harry wondered what was the point in that, as they would see him as soon as they turned around.  
  
"I'm not familiar with any Harry's in seventh year. Are you a new addition to the school? What is you surname Harry?" McGonagall asked her voice softened a little.  
  
"I'm not new in the school Professor McGonagall. And my surname is Potter."  
  
Harry had never seen as much reaction to his name before despite all his fame. Avery who had lowered his wand had him pointed at Harry again and McGonagall had drawn hers and gone in battle stance like Avery. They were both very white in the face and their eyes opened and alert.  
  
Harry however had no time to draw his own wand as Snape was suddenly at his side, wand drawn. Harry gasped as he stupefied Avery, leaving McGonagall alone. She wouldn't be alone for long, as there were already people coming out of the castle, running towards them.  
  
Harry felt something being thrust into his hands and with a familiar pull beneath his navel he and Snape were gone.  
  
Harry collapsed on the floor and didn't bother getting up. This was all too strange so he might as well lie here until things made at least some sense.  
  
"Severus? Is that you?"  
  
Wait, that voice sounded familiar. Harry raised his head and immediately sat up straight.  
  
"Dumbledore! Sir. I'm so glad to see you, I don't know what happened, McGonagall was there attacking me with Avery, and Tom Riddle was there." his words were tumbling over each other now and he was frantic to explain it to get as quickly as he could to the bottom in all this.  
  
" And I couldn't find Ron and Hermione anywhere, there was this strange sound in the train and when I woke up they were gone. Sir? What is wrong?"  
  
Harry just noticed that Dumbledore was staring at him like he had grown an extra arm or something. He quickly checked to make sure he hadn't, he wouldn't be surprised as the day had been.  
  
"I don't know who the boy is sir, I met him in the dungeons and he was able to see and recognise me. He ran away before I could ask him more. I don't know what he did to get on the bad side of Them." Snape in a curt voice as he folded something silvery.  
  
Dumbledores gaze went back on Harry "See you indeed. He recognised you as well?"  
  
"Yes. He also knew The Others by their names, and foolishly told them his."  
  
Harry hated when people talked like he wasn't there, and he hated it too when they spoke of things he didn't know, but had they faint inclination that he should.  
  
He was now aware of Dumbledore's eyes on him.  
  
"Well then, my lad. What is your name?" Dumbledore asked kindly  
  
"Harry, sir."  
  
"Harry you say. Could you please tell me mister Harry what happened at school, in a little more organized way. " Dumbledores blue eyes twinkled and Harry blushed slightly. "Just start at the beginning, I believe you mentioned the train?  
  
Harry nodded and began explaining, about the incident in the train and what happened after he woke up. Dumbledore and Snape were silent the whole time.  
  
Dumbledore spoke as soon as he finished.  
  
"This definitely is strange. Tell me, what was different from what you expected when you got inside the school?"  
  
Harry paused.  
  
"Well, I found it a bit strange that McGonagall wasn't meeting the first years, but I figured that maybe that task had been handed over to Professor Snape."  
  
"Professor Snape?"  
  
"I was wondering about that too. When he first saw me he called me professor and I assumed at first he was talking to someone else." Snape told Dumbledore.  
  
Harry stared at them.  
  
"But, you are the potion master at school. That makes you a professor."  
  
Both men stared back at him  
  
"I think we should wait with explanations until later, please continue with your story mister Harry." Dumbledore said.  
  
"Erm, okay. So when I told McGonagall I wanted to see the headmaster she was all strange like she didn't know me, and instead of going the usual way to your office, she went to some strange painting of a cat I've never seen before and took me to Tom Riddle. Like hell I was gonna waltz in there and talk to him so I ran away and found myself in the dungeons. Then Professor Snape came walking all strange and acting like he didn't know me either, and suddenly he grabbed me so I kicked him thinking he had turned back over to Voldemort or something and ran. And when I got outside McGonagall came after me with Avery." Harry's nose scrunched in disgust, "I dunno what he was doing there or what I did to make them act so weird. And I thought portkeys didn't work at Hogwarts, that's what Hermione said at least." He finished and watched as Dumbledore digested what he had told him.  
  
"This is all rather strange. But tell me Harry, what is your surname?"  
  
"My name is Harry Orion Potter, sir" Harry said. He had gone after his fifth year to recover his birth certificate, and discovered that he had a middle name. He suspected it had something to do with Sirius, seeing as they were both star-names. He was also quite fond of the story behind Orion, who had been a brave hunter who fought for the love of a princess but her father didn't like him so he made Orion slay all beasts in the country, but of course there would always be more beasts so Orion gave up. His heroic actions had made him very famous and even made the hunter goddess Artemis fall for him, but her jealous brother Apollo tricked her into killing Orion.  
  
"Potter?" Dumbledore asked somewhat surprised. "Any relations to James and Lily Potter?"  
  
"They were my parents, sir." Harry replied dully. Thinking of his parents hurt even more after losing Sirius.  
  
"Were?" Asked Dumbledore speculatingly.  
  
Harry glanced up at Dumbledore  
  
"Er, yes. They were killed by Voldemort when I was a baby." Harry grimaced. Something was really wrong here. What was going on with Dumbledore?  
  
There were a few minutes of silence before Dumbledore spoke up.  
  
"Severus. If you would be so kind?" He left the sentence hanging, but Severus was already on his feet and going.  
  
"Harry, I'm afraid there has been a little accident. I think you are not supposed to be here."  
  
Harry stared at the old man but didn't say anything as Severus returned to the room with two people in tow. A raven-haired man with glasses and a red- haired woman with intense green eyes.  
  
"Mom? Dad?" Harry whispered as he passes out.  
  
Author notes:  
  
Yep, this is it. I love cliffhangers, I didn't realize until I started writing my own fiction just how wonderful they are (  
  
A new chapter should be up as soon as I'm in the mood to write a new one.  
  
Oh, yeah. There is that word "speculatingly" It's not really a word, I know, but it sound jolly good (  
  
Thanks to you who reads this, it means a lot to know someone actually reads my "mind"  
  
Anilia Hawkeye 


	3. rdchapter

Shadows in the rain Chapter three  
  
~~~~~~~~~  
  
Harry groaned and opened his eyes. His vision was blurry but he could see a person rushing around the room and two persons sitting next to him.  
  
"Ron? Hermione? What happened?" Harry asked in slurry voice.  
  
The persons next to him jumped.  
  
"Oh, you are awake. You gave us quite a fright, passing out like that." A gentle female voice told him.  
  
"Go and get the nurse will you." She prodded the man next to her. Harry's vision was getting clearer and he watched the man, he couldn't make out who it was, skip over to a bulky person and returning with her.  
  
The Bulk bent over him, and examined him.  
  
"How are you feeling? Everything a-ok?"  
  
"Er, my vision is a bit blurry, but I'm just fine." Harry told the Bulk who immediately drew up a potion and poured into a beaker.  
  
"Alrighty, drink this then. No worries if it tastes bad, worse the taste, more effects is what I always say."  
  
She was right in that. This had to be the worst potion he had ever tasted, counting the polyjuice back in second year. He coughed and spluttered, earning a hearty laughter from the nurse.  
  
His vision cleared in moments and he turned to the nurse. The people who had been there when he woke up were gone.  
  
"Oki-doki, come with me then dear and talk to Albus. Your clothes are on the stool here. Just get dressed and we can leave. I'll be waiting just outside." She hurried over to the door and left Harry alone.  
  
He took his time to look around while he dressed in, mind you, some of the weirdest clothing he had ever seen, counting what he had had while at the Dursleys. He was pretty that this wasn't any part of the hospital wing. It was much smaller, and the walls had flowery wallpaper. There were only four beds and no windows. He wondered what had happened to make him pass out and went to meet the nurse outside the door.  
  
She smiled in a way that he thought she must have found kind but made her look like a very menacing frog.  
  
"All righty, lets get going then. Don't pay too much attention to the surroundings, we still don't know who you are so we can't really trust you."  
  
Harry wondered if the nurse was joking, but realized that she probably wasn't.  
  
The whole place was a maze, zigzagging in all directions. They walked down a very long corridor, only to turn right at the end and walk they same way the came, just on the corridor beside the one they came from. Both corridors were empty of everything, including doors.  
  
Harry's head was spinning when they finally came to a stop outside a large brown door with a handle shaped like a fish. The nurse took out her wand and poured some water from it on the fish. The handle turned and the door swung open.  
  
"Oh, dear. Tove, is that you?" The door suddenly opening like that must have startled whoever was in there for he sounded breathless.  
  
Harry looked up at the nurse and saw her turning an interesting shade of red and mutter something under her breath.  
  
She coughed and turned to Harry.  
  
"You go on in sweetums, I have to go back to the treatment centre. You'll behave yourself, and no more passing out like that." She strolled off.  
  
Harry briefly wondered why she used such a fancy word for such a small room as the hospital wing, but he quickly collected his thoughts and went inside to meet the man waiting for him.  
  
The first thing he saw when he came in was a large red and golden something flying at him. He nearly yelled out but realized in time that it was only Fawkes, who had by then made himself comfortable on Harry's shoulder. Harry contemplated that Fawkes must be quite early in his cycle, for usually he was half as big as Harry himself.  
  
"It is quite rare to see Gundi liking someone he just met. I could take that as a sign that you are trustworthy." A familiar voice said and Harry looked up.  
  
He saw his headmaster sitting in a large chair at the end of a long, coarse table, smiling slightly at Harry with his eyes twinkling.  
  
"Erm, who is Gundi, sir?" Harry asked  
  
Albus raised his eyebrows.  
  
"My phoenix, of course. The one who is currently picking at you sleeve."  
  
Harry stared.  
  
"But...But I thought his name was Fawkes? Have you gotten a new phoenix?"  
  
Harry thought that the phoenix had looked rather young, but what would Dumbledore have done with Fawkes then? He looked bewildered from the bird on his shoulder to his now frowning headmaster.  
  
"Fawkes? What- No, let's not get ahead of ourselves. Please sit down so that we can talk better. Would you like some tea? Chocolate or plain biscuits?"  
  
The headmaster didn't wait for an answer, he was immediately in full action, magicking a tablecloth, a tea tray and a candle, making the room suddenly seem much more cosy. Harry went hesitantly and sat down after he had put the phoenix on its perch. He watched as the old man arranged everything he had conjured and poured some tea for both of them. He noted that there were three extra cups on the tray, but didn't pay more attention to them  
  
Dumbledore finally finished his tea making and looked at Harry, smiling and eye-twinkling.  
  
"Help yourself. Now, I want to tell you about this place and what we are doing here, but first I want you to tell me how you got here." He smiled merrily and sipped his tea.  
  
Harry took a chocolate biscuit from the tray. He wasn't quite sure where to start. Things hadn't really gotten weird until he got off the train, so he began there, when he woke up alone and how he hadn't found Ron and Hermione, his strange reception in the castle, about how McGonagall had acted. When he told Dumbledore how surprised he had been when he found that the office had been moved and Riddle was supposedly the headmaster, Dumbledore made a strange noise, but motioned immediately at Harry to continue and was silent through the rest of the story. He furrowed his brow when Harry said he had seen Snape coming around the corner, but he didn't seem surprised at how Snape had reacted. Neither did it seem to move him when he heard how McGonagall and Avery had attacked Harry, but it was there, when Snape port-keyed him out when Harry realized that that was as far as his memory went.  
  
He fell silent and nibbled at his biscuit while Dumbledore was thinking, his eyes a little glazed.  
  
"Yes, that's as far as you remember. You don't remember falling asleep in the train?" Harry shook his head and Dumbledore continued, "I'm not really sure on where to start, it is all very complicated."  
  
There was silence for several minutes. Suddenly, the headmaster spoke up and Harry jumped.  
  
"I just don't know what to do with you. Perhaps, yes, I'll tell you what happened after you got here. You see, you didn't pass out until you got here. You said your name was Harry, right, Harry Potter?"  
  
Harry nodded again.  
  
"And that's where I got confused. You see, I then asked if you were related to Lily and James Potter and you told me they were your parents, but that can't be, as they have no children, and you also told me that they were dead, but the Potters I know are fine and very much alive." He held up a hand to silence Harry, "So I have come to the conclusion that you are not right, as I told you just before you passed out."  
  
Harry's mind filled with dread. What did 'not right' mean? He quickly finished his tea to calm his nerves. The headmaster was right, something was not right here. How Dumbledore spoke, his phoenix and the bizarreness of everything. Suddenly something Dumbledore had said floated up in his mind. His stood quickly up and gaped at the headmaster who was calmly surveying him.  
  
"What do you mean with 'the Potters you know'?" Harry asked in a shaky voice  
  
The headmaster just smiled.  
  
"That was what made me come to the conclusion I made. For, you see, when the Potters I know came, you promptly passed out. And that was two days ago. I think that, for some reason, you have ended up here, instead of your place."  
  
"What do you mean, my place?"  
  
"Well, I'm not sure, perhaps you were using a portkey and something failed, or perhaps it was some other reason," he hesitated, "much bigger."  
  
Harry stared at him.  
  
"Are you saying maybe I died, or was using black-magic? I would never use black magic, and I can't be dead. I can't die yet." Harry was shouting at the headmaster now.  
  
"Of course I don't think you were using the dark arts, if you had then Gundi would have steered very clear of you. Just calm down." Dumbledore said calmly and Harry obeyed and sat down.  
  
Just then the door flew open and a dishevelled man ran in, with his wand aloft.  
  
"Are you all right sir? We heard someone shouting about Dark magic and dying!"  
  
Dumbledore smiled.  
  
"I'm quite all right. Sirius, James and Lily, oh Remus as well then, come sit down with us and have some tea. This is mister Harry Potter."  
  
Harry stared open-mouthed at the group who came in and sat down. He couldn't believe what his eyes were seeing; three of the people he was seeing were dead. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish, but then realized that he must really have be dead, and this had been Dumbledores kind way of telling him.  
  
But him and Remus being here must mean that they had really lost the war.  
  
He turned to Dumbledore.  
  
"Sir, I think I understand now. This means Voldemort really has won the war."  
  
To his surprise the group at the table did not nod in sympathy and say how sorry they were. James and Sirius jumped to their feet, wands pointed at him, Lily and Remus stared at him gaping and Dumbledore narrowed his eyes.  
  
"How do you know that name? I thought he was someone to be trusted, not a spy for the 'light side'. No wonder he saw through Severus's invisibility cloak, he has probably been infused with all kinds of dark magic." The-not- Sirius said loudly, his voice icy.  
  
Dumbledore simply took out his wand and unarmed them all. Sirius looked at him sourly, but James went to pick up Lily who was sitting on the floor.  
  
"Be calm all of you. There is a perfectly reasonable explanation for all of this." Dumbledore turned to Harry. "Tell me Harry, what do you know of this Voldemort?"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
I hope someone liked it. Please tell me what you think, it's stupid to waste my time on something that, well, you know.  
  
I'm half-way through the next chapter, but I dunno when I finish him, but I am working on it ( 


	4. th chapter

Shadows in the rain.  
  
Chapter 4 ~~~~~~  
  
Remus, Sirius, the Potters and Dumbledore were all watching him expectantly. Harry gulped a few times and stammered when he spoke.  
  
"Er, I'm not sure what you mean. I thought you knew Voldemort. I mean, you were the one who told me all about him, and you are the only one he fears." He said puzzled. He stared at the headmaster, who looked quite taken aback. At a glance, he noticed that the others looked quite surprised too. Dumbledore told him to continue with his story, please tell them what connection he had with Voldemort.  
  
"Well, I'm supposedly the only one who can defeat him, because of the prophecy, you know. He came to kill me when I was a baby, but failed, and then I met him a few times since I began Hogwarts." Harry had by now figured that in the realm of the dead where he was now, people could take on the appearance they chose, and they were fishing details only he could now, to make sure it really was him. He wondered what he could say to make them trust him. And of course he knew what to say. He turned to the younger people  
  
"Back in third year when you taught me the Patronus charm, Professor Lupin, it turned into a stag and you told me that it was eccentric because my fathers animagus form had been a stag. And Sirius was also a animagus, a large, black dog." He was talking fast, so accidentally spoke of Sirius in past tense, and blushed when he realized his mistake. But he figured that he had said enough by now, so he fell silent and stared at his feet. No one spoke for a long time.  
  
"Who exactly are you? How do you know all this?" For the first time since they came into the room, Harry heard Lily speak. The voice felt oddly familiar, and he realized that she must have been the one in the hospital wing. Harry's insides felt oddly warm suddenly. For the first time since he could remember, his mother had been there when he woke up in a hospital bed. He smiled and stroked back a stray tear that ran from his eye. He grinned. How silly of him to get so emotional. He would now have eternity to be with his parents, and Sirius. He raised his head and smiled brightly.  
  
"It's ok, you can trust me. I'm really me, Harry Orion Potter." He hesitated "This is some kind of a test right, I mean, we're all dead, right?"  
  
Remus chuckled nervously and Lily just sat down. Dumbledore cleared his throat.  
  
"There is something not wholly right about all this. And no, Harry. No one here is dead, and if I may speak for us all, none of us have ever seen you before. The events and people you speak of are also unknown to us. I have two theories concerning this matter; either you are a raving psychopath, or you come from some alternate dimension. I do not know which one it is, you seem quite sane to me, but crossing dimension is very difficult and hardly achievable for a fourteen-year old boy."  
  
"I'm sixteen." Harry told no one in particular, and Sirius laughed.  
  
"What, are you from a family of midgets? I could have mistaken you for a twelve-year old." Sirius said, chuckling. James grinned also but Lily and Remus watched him with a concerned expression.  
  
Dumbledore hit the table with his teacup and the two boys/men immediately shut up. Harry noticed that he Dumbledore shot him a disturbed look as well.  
  
"Stop this nonsense. Harry, I want to ask you some questions, and I want you to answer as truthfully as you can." Harry nodded and Dumbledore continued. "Your parents, who were they?"  
  
For the half-a-hour Harry told Dumbledore his whole life story, from when, and why, his parents were killed and Voldemort vanquished, to the day he received his Hogwarts acceptance letter. Dumbledore had been silent and Harry suspected him of using some kind of a silence charm on the younger people, for they had been surprisingly still.  
  
"And there I was, thinking my parents had been killed in a car accident, when they were actually wizards, killed by a the darkest wizard in a century. I was really surprised, but happy at the same time, I didn't really know what I was in for." Harry stopped and took a hefty gulp of tea. Still, no one said anything, so he continued.  
  
When he told them how he was made the youngest seeker in a century, James, Remus and Sirius's faces lit up, but they said nothing.  
  
Hagrids dragon escapade earned a hearty laughter from all in the room, and the story of the person in the forest got a disgusted gasp. The philosophers stone received surprise, and Sirius actually congratulated him on making it through all of the teachers' wards.  
  
"Another difference. A philosophers stone has never been made here." Dumbledore mumbled.  
  
Harry went on to his second year.  
  
He had never had a better audience. Harry could see the anticipation building up in them as he relived his second year, and they were all thunderstruck upon hearing about the Chamber of secrets. Sirius whooped when Harry defeated the basilisk, and Lily was biting her nails in tension. She let out a small whimper when Harry told them how he had felt himself dying, and looked as though she would have liked to reach out and hold him.  
  
"So this Voldemort transferred some of his powers to you when he evaporated, thus giving you the ability to speak parseltongue." Dumbledore stated to Harry, who nodded. "Please continue. How many years in Hogwarts have you completed?"  
  
"I was starting my sixth year, when I, uh, came here." Dumbledore just nodded.  
  
The tension was even more when Harry told them about his third year. It took a little while for Sirius and James to calm down when he told them he had blown up his aunt. Lily and Dumbledore even grinned.  
  
Remus being teacher earned more laughter. Apparently Sirius and James found it funny even though it was not their Remus. Harry wasn't even sure that this Remus was a werewolf. He looked too healthy somehow.  
  
Lily raved a little when the unjust treatment of Buckbeak was told. There was a shell-shocked silence, which after Lily raved a little more, when Harry told them about the time-turner exploit.  
  
The story about Sirius didn't move them much, James only patted Sirius on the back.  
  
"You must be tired from all this story-telling and it is getting late. How about we continue tomorrow?" Dumbledore asked when Harry was finished. Harry stared at the table before looking the headmaster in the eyes.  
  
"I-I'd prefer not to. It's easier just to get it over with."  
  
Dumbledore furrowed his brow. "All right. Want some more tea before going on? Somehow I sense that you will need it."  
  
Harry accepted gratefully, and asked politely if they would mind not interrupting, it was hard enough to tell without anyone disrupting him every few sentences.  
  
It took him nearly an hour of non-stop talking to cover his fourth year. Everyone were silent except Sirius, who could not hold back an angry grunt when Harry told them about what happened in the graveyard.  
  
The silence in the room was deafening. No one seemed to know what exactly to say, so Harry took a sip of his tea, a deep breath and continued telling them about his fifth year.  
  
Everyone seemed too shell-shocked to speak, but at the end Lily was crying softly and James trying to comfort both her and Sirius who was staring into space. It must be a shock to hear about yourself dying, in a sense.  
  
Suddenly Lily sprang to her feet and jumped at Harry, hugging him tightly.  
  
Harry was aware of everyone staring at them, and it made him uncomfortable. It was comfy to be held, but this wasn't his mother and it made him nervous to have this stranger holding him like this.  
  
"Lily, please calm yourself." Dumbledore was firm, and Lily reluctantly went back to her seat and James put his arms around her. Dumbledore then turned back to Harry.  
  
"This is quite an exciting life you've led. In one year, you manage to experience more then a normal person in her whole life. I have come to the conclusion now by listening to your story, that somehow you have managed to cross the barrier between two worlds. I do not know how, so I'm afraid I can't send you back until we figure out how you got here in the first place. Until then, you are welcome to stay with us. I assume you are not so keen to go back to Hogwarts?"  
  
Harry smiled in relief and nodded. He had been afraid that they were planning to send him back to a place full of Death Eaters.  
  
Dumbledores eyes twinkled at the relief Harry showed.  
  
"There is something I would like you to tell us before we call it a day. I want you to tell me about the rise of this Voldemort."  
  
Harry wondered how much was really different in this world and his. It must be nice for them, no Voldemort. Well, there was a Tom Riddle in Hogwarts, in fact a headmaster there, but here he must have used his powers for good, instead of turning into a megalomaniac monster. He wondered if any of his friends existed here. Maybe they were never born, or if they were, maybe then they didn't even know each other. He shook his head to clear it and started telling them all he could.  
  
"Well, he was a student in Hogwarts about fifty years ago. He was in Slytherin, though he was a half-blood. He is, apparently, the heir of Salazar Slytherin. After he graduated from Hogwarts, with honours," Harry added, "he disappeared and studied the dark arts. Then, suddenly he came back with a masked army called the Death Eaters, and started slaughtering everyone who was not a pureblooded wizard. He killed some of the most prominent wizards of our time, and was at the height of his reign when he was defeated. And now I've come a whole circle."  
  
"Interesting. Does he have another name?" Dumbledore seemed a little agitated.  
  
"Er, most of the wizarding world calls him you-know-who or other alternate names, but his birth name was Tom Riddle."  
  
Everyone paled and his or her eyes widened.  
  
"Albus, so maybe it is he who is responsible for the attacks here?" Remus whispered.  
  
The headmaster shook his head.  
  
"I do not know. We shouldn't out rule that possibility, but we don't know for sure if it is really him. It could be anyone else." He said in a steady voice. "I think Harry has had enough for today. We will talk better tomorrow. Sirius, can you take Harry to the green room? That will be your room Harry, and if you need anything, just ask. Now that you are an accepted inhabitant here you can find your way around easily."  
  
"Imagine the irony if the Vice minister of Magic and Headmaster of Hogwarts turned out to be the one behind all these murders..." James said as Harry and Sirius walked out of the room.  
  
Author notes:  
  
That's it for now. As you have maybe noticed, English is not my mother language, so some sentences may be in a pretty weird order. Just bear it with me :/  
  
I thank you Elebereth and Drusilla for reviewing, I now know what my twin brother meant when he said no thanks to gambling with his friends; he was easily addicted :)  
  
The next chapter should be up in a week, if it isn't, then sometime later. All depends on when we get the bloody Internet up again. I've been using my employers computer for a month now (it's OK, I'm only babysitting :), but it's still pretty infuriating.  
  
Feel free to say anything if you review, I'm open to criticism (if you're going to flame, please do not use only upper-case letters. It only makes you look more stupid, not intimidating) 


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